List of features
Tabbed browsing
- Tabbed browsing is a faster alternative to multi-window browsing
- Unlike new browser windows, new tabs open instantly
- Open links in background pages so you can continue reading or clicking more links while the new pages are loading
Privacy
- Pop-up blocking!
- Cover your private tracks of surfing (cookies, cache, download history, history) with an easy tool for deleting private data
- Boss button for hiding Opera
- Disable JavaScript that resizes, moves, or raises windows
- Stop redirections
- Removing malicious styling so you can see which links you have visited
Downloading and browsing
- Links panel for selecting and downloading multiple linked files
- Quick download for downloading without confirmation pop-ups
- Instant downloading which can start before you choose the download directory
- Fast Forward: browse through directories or image galleries
Hand(s)-free browsing
- Easy browsing with one hand free for other activities
- Browse entirely hands free: use your voice
Other
- Zooming images up to 1000%
- Full screen with full browsing capabilities
- All visited addresses are shown in location bar auto-complete, so you can quickly see which galleries and which images you've seen within a given site.
- Fast inline search for text and links
- "Find similar pages" search
- Use notes to record and link to important information on your favourite sites
This all comes without having to download a bunch of extensions!
Tutorial
Tabbed browsing
You can see in the picture 
that Opera supports many pages inside one window. And because Opera is very light-weight you won't have any problems of having tens of pages open. The true brilliance of the feature comes in the ease of opening and navigating the pages.
You can quickly open a list of links in two easy ways. The first one is to press down Ctrl and Shift when you click a link and the second is middle-clicking the link. These two methods will open new pages in the background so you can go on clicking links while pages are downloading. You can also open pages from the Links panel.
When you have tens of pages open, it is important to be able to go through them in an easy way. For that you can either use mouse or the keyboard - or both. Which ever way you choose, you should definitely go to > > and change Window cycling to "Cycle without showing list" or "Cycle in page bar order". To learn how to fastes move between pages, read the sections about Mouse or Keyboard.
For even more efficiency, there will be a separate tutorial about advanced page browsing.
Privacy
Pop-up blocking
Opera has two modes of pop-up blocking: "Block all pop-ups" and "Block unwanted pop-ups". If you select "Block unwanted pop-ups" Opera will only open pop-ups when you request it by clicking a link. You can easily access these (and two other pop-up options) by pressing F12.
Delete private data
Browsing in sites leaves tracks but those tracks can be easily removed when you use Opera. Don't be lured by the temptive banner that you see on the Web! To empty history, cache, history and other - in detail - go to > . Beware, that to clear the data, Opera will close all open pages! You can also have more detailed control over your private data:
- Delete individual cookies: >
- Delete new cookies on exit: > > >
- History: Remove individual pages from history by using the History window (press Ctrl + Alt + H). When a page is not in the history, it will not appear in auto-complete but it may appear in Typed in addresses (drop-down).
Boss button
You can quickly hide Opera by pressing Ctrl + H. You can get back to Opera by double-clicking the Opera icon in the Quick launch.
Take control of your pages
JavaScript can cause gray hair: pages in background jumping to the front, pages that resize themselves, pages that move themselves, or steal your right-click menu. You can disable Javascript (Press F12 and unselect ) but JavaScript can sometimes be necessary for accessing a page. That is why you can disable just the most annoying parts of it. Go to > > > .
Stop redirection
Redirection on the Internet is used for both good and bad, so be aware that disabling redirection may also have ill consequences. There are two types of redirects you can block:
- HTTP redirects: These are usually of the good type, but they can be disabled at > > >
- JavaScript redirects: Disable JavaScript by pressing F12 and unselecting
See visited links easily
Some pages show visited and unvisited links in the same colour. An easy way to get rid off such styling is to press Ctrl + G. You can have even more fine tuned-control of your page styles, such as showing visited links in with a line-through or decide not to show them at all.
Downloading and browsing
Besides tabbed browsing, Opera has some more nice browsing features which makes it superior to other browsers.
Links panel
When you are on a page that has links to files you want to download, open the links panel (press Ctrl + 9). Links panel shows all the links on the page. You can select the links you want, right click on the selected area and select Download or Quick Download. When you lock the links panel, you can keep the links in view even if you go to another page.
Quick download
When right-clicking a link or items in the Link panel you can see an option "Quick download". This will download the target files to your computer without giving a pop-up dialog asking you where you want to download the files - which would be slow to do for each and every file. Instead, they are directly downloaded to your Download directory, which you can set in > > .
Instant download
Unlike other browser, Opera will start downloading a file immediately after you click a link or select from the context menu. When you have told where you want to download the file, Opera will just move it there.
Fast Forward
Opening links in background pages is by far the fastest method to go visit all the links. But it isn't always about speed, is it? When you are in an image gallery or a directory listing, click the FastForward button 
or press Shift + X. This will take you through all the pictures and when you have gone through them, Opera will return to where you started. Nice, eh?
Hand(s)-free browsing
When you are browsing your hands often have better things to do than caress the computer hardware. You will want to browse with minimal effort and at the same time be sure to hit the right buttons. With Opera, it is easy to browse with one hand either using the mouse or or the keyboard.
The most important functions to look at, are: opening links (in the background), closing pages, saving images, and browsing between pages. We'll have a closer look at them. If you need more help with keyboard shortcuts this page.
Mouse
When you use the mouse, you can do it the old fashioned way of clicking, right clicking, pointing at small things etc. With Opera, you can use mouse gestures and even create ones of your own. When you perform a mouse gesture, for example "down, right", you keep the right mouse button down and move the mouse first down, then right. See > >
- Open link: Click
- Open link in new page: Mouse gesture "down" on the link
- Open link in background page: Mouse gesture "down, up" on the link or middle click a link
- Close page: Mouse gesture "down, right" or middle click the page tab
- Save image: Add save button to the toolbar
- Cycle/Switch between pages: a) Hold down right mouse button and scroll with scroll wheel or b) add gestures with action "Cycle previous (and next) page" or "Swith to previous (and next) page"
Keyboard
Opera has been developed to keep in mind those who can't use the mouse because of their disability. This means that Opera has a plenty of keyboard shortcuts that help everybody in browsing. Using keyboard shortcuts is the fastest way to browse. You will find quite a few keyboard shortcuts by pressing Ctrl+B.
But before you can start using the keyboard shortcuts, you will have to learn how to move between links. Piece of cake:
| Shortcut | Meaning | Shortcut | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q | Previous link | A | Next link |
| Shift+Up | Link above | Shift+Down | Link below |
| Shift+Left | Link on the left | Shift+Right | Link on the right |
- Open link: Enter
- Open link in new page: Shift + Enter
- Open link in background page: Ctrl + Shift + Enter
- Close page: Ctrl + W
- Save image: Ctrl + S
- Cycle to next page: Ctrl + Tab
- Cycle to next page: Ctrl + Shift + Tab
- Switch to previous page on page bar: 1
- Switch to next page on page bar: 2
Voice
Since Opera released 7.55 with IBM, you have been able to command your browser with speech. How is that for hands-free browsing! Opera 7.60 has improved the support browsing with voice and it can also read aloud for you.
Voice has the same actions available as when surfing with mouse or keyboard (see above). If you want to know what to say to get some action, have a look at the help files.
Other
Zoom
Use the + and - buttons to zoom in and out. You can also use the Zoom box on the address bar. You can zoom between 20% to 1000%!
Full screen
Press F11, and Opera will go into Full screen mode. And if you're using the keyboard shortcuts you won't even miss the toolbars.
Inline find
If you are looking for text on a web page you should always use the search functionality in your browser. Besides the usual search dialog in > there is also Inline find.
- Find text: to find some text on a Web page, press . (dot) and start typing.
- Find links: to find text from only links, press / and start typing
- F3 will show the next occurance and Shift + F3 will show the previous one
Search for similar sites
If this is the kind of page you like search for similar pages at > .
Take notes of your pages
To take notes of pages, select text from a page, right-click it and select "Copy to notes". Notes will be in the notes panel which you can open by pressing Ctrl + 6. There are two special things about notes. The first one is that you can search them by typing in the search field. The second is that a note works as a link to the page where it was copied from.
Extra material
Keyboard to mouse converter
| Keyboard | Mouse |
|---|---|
| F12 | Tools > Quick preferences |
| Ctrl + Alt + H | Tools > History |
| Ctrl + G | View > Style |
| Shift + X | Navigation > Fast forward |
| F11 | View > Full screen |
| + and - | View > Zoom |
| Ctrl + 9 | Panel selector:  |
| Ctrl + 6 | Panel selector:  |
Disclaimer
Opera Software ASA (Opera) is in no way involved in the making of these document. The author is completely responsible for the cause and goal of this document or the lack of them.
The author does not guarantee that following the instructions in this document will keep you out of harms way. The reader, and only the reader, is responsible for following the instruction in this document and the consequences thereof.
The author permits not-for-profit distribution of this documentation in English and as translated versions. The document, public copies, translations, or other material for which the author has full or partial copyright to, may not be modified. If you want something to be changed in this document, contact the author with your suggestions.
Jos A Bank